C.L. Harmon Posts

BY C.L. Harmon

I grew up in a world where a tip was earned not expected. I was raised in a world where one helped another just to see them lifted up, not for a ‘you owe me’. I remember a world where working was the natural way and not a time when it’s taught that natural is to expect what is not earned. I experienced a world where God was feared and terrorists were mocked as weak, a time before airports were civil liberties violations with a paycheck. I remember a world when respect was first taught and then earned through morality and courage. It was never given freely as its worth was valued too high for a handout. I witnessed a world where integrity was in a handshake and a word before courtrooms became playgrounds where adults settle disputes like children. I knew a world where men fought over differences and then learned to live together in spite of them; a world where owning a gun meant you knew when not to use it. I once knew a world where people loved more than they hated, a world where common sense came with every lesson be it at school or home.

I remember a world where a happy meal was a family at the dinner table and conversation was the most important ingredient on that table. I knew a world where punishment was important because it built character because we knew a sting lasts less than a prison sentence.

I once knew a world…

C.L. Harmon

The further we delve into the madness of panic, the more distant sanity travels from us. We have always resided in an uncertain world where chaos sweeps behind us in a frenzied rush. We have always lived with fear, but until recently, we have never let that fear become the beacon in which we gravitate. We are setting a precedent where fear rules us even into ruin. We are choosing to survive in chains rather than live free in the few steps separating us from the chaos.

There is no escaping the fact that we will become swept up in the forces of havoc from time to time. But as it has always been, the cost of life is the realization of death, the reward of life is the opportunity to experience it. When fear becomes our light, we are traveling down a dark path. If we do not create new and reasonable light to combat the surrounding darkness which attempts to consume us, we are lost regardless of what direction we choose.

Illuminating the darkness which engulfs us during the seasons where the havoc has caught up with us, is as simple as believing that even a small flame of reason drowns out the dimmest surroundings. It is also the acceptance that chaos has an appetite and will consume what it needs until is satisfied. It is further understanding that madness cares not for our choices to serve fear or to battle it. It simply obeys its nature. We must always remember that the choices made in fear today will be the circumstances that we live with tomorrow.

C.L. Harmon

Sometimes we lose our way and we don’t necessarily want to find our way back even though moving forward frightens us to our core. I believe this is something that we all experience at one point or another in our lives. Even the thought of going back to something familiar and comfortable leaves us with a feeling of uncertainty and possibly dread. Perhaps these moments in which we are idle are telling us that boundaries exist within us that must be overcome. These boundaries are not however placed to keep us in place, but to be conquered.

Questioning what we have been taught, seeking evidence contrary to what is popular and venturing into uncharted territory forces boundaries to disappear. Change occurs because boundaries are breached, not because they are left intact. What is often most difficult to destroy are the boundaries we ourselves construct. Traditionally we think of others’ boundaries keeping us out when, in actuality, it’s ours keeping us in.

Some of the most formidable of these boundaries are our choices to believe without questioning, accept without complete understanding. It seems somehow easier to remain unenlightened in ignorance behind a boundary than to forge into new territory with a new concept all our own. What we fear, what we believe remains only partial truths until we have the courage and fortitude to eradicate all the boundaries within us and discover what can be known beyond.

I haven’t written much lately but did have a moment of inspiration for the following little poem. I hope you enjoy.

Blood is Spilt, wounds become scars with secrets that are kept and then revealed. And the minutes tick by. We sin, sacrifice saints, live, die and hurt as those minutes tick into hours.

Tears fall for those lost and hatred abounds for those who trespass against us. We breathe until we are extinguished and we are buried in cold earth no longer witness to the seasons and the sun. And without us, our children watch as the hours become years and our trespasses become their prejudices.

Evil rides upon the high winds blowing through our hearts, within our souls. We struggle to hold our ground as the leaves are ripped from the trees and the branches strain to hold on the roots which give them life.

And yet we sway in the breezes of compassion and forgiveness. We become fragile in strength and weak in our resolve. And as the years become decades, we dwindle away into the dust from which we were created.

And in time we will have experienced this journey called life. We will know what it is to cry, sigh, and die within the centuries that have allowed us the moments we used to take steps from the birth to burial when at last time waves to us all a lasting goodbye.

Greetings,

I am excited to let everyone know that my book, “Chopping Down the Tree of Knowledge” is now available for preorder. The release date is November 15. A link will be provided for those interested in ordering a copy. The book is available in digital format and paperback.

Unlike my first book “In the Midst of Reality” which is a compilation of Mindsets, this book is a journey into life as explained through my personal experiences and the failures which make them up. It is the understanding of a belief system that failed me and hopefully a wake-up call that yours may be failing you.

Through Mindsets, I have always tried to convey positive messages that I hope to help people view the world with a sense of optimism. This work, however, started out very differently and without the intent to share positive insights. It was born out of anger and disappointment toward a God I have worshipped and trusted all my life. As I wrote in the above paragraph, this work is a journey. It has a destination I thought not possible when I began writing it and a message I was always afraid to know until I knew it.

It is my sincere hope that this work affects you as much as it has me.

CL

P.S. Click Here if you missed the first link.

By C.L. Harmon

Buried within each of us is a set of instructions. We are not born empty vessels void of direction but created with a knowledge and understanding whose origins are beyond our comprehension. Many of these instructions are of a physical nature such as breathing, sleeping and heart functions. But there are also other instructions woven into our creation. These are of a moral nature and instrumental in the course our lives and our world will take. Knowing what is right and wrong are not only lessons we learn as we grow, but guidelines ingrained into our very souls.

We are not created to do harm or create chaos. We are created with a sense of rhythm to coexist with each other and nature. Each of us knows this and when we stray from these internal instructions, we feel a betrayal inside that is undeniable. Humanity has not evolved due to an absence of these instructions but instead flourished because of their existence. Without such a guiding force, we would certainly destroy ourselves and our world. An age of enlightenment is not some period of time, but every time we choose to be enlightened from the knowledge within us.

And though there are many who choose to ignore these instructions for living and bring about chaos as a result, there are also many who choose enlightenment and follow the knowledge that is created within them. It is these people who propel us forward through their examples of decency, respect, compassion, and sense of fairness and equality, while it those who opt to ignore our internal instructions which keep dragging society back toward the dark ages.